Photo Credit: marsmet 541 (Creative Commons)
Congress has just made it easier to arrest and convict those who exercise their 1st Amendment rights of protest and assembly.
A number of articles have recently appeared on the web concerning the “Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011,” a bill recently passed by Congress which makes it a criminal offense to “impede or disrupt” the activities of the President, Vice President or anyone under the immediate protection of the Secret Service. The measure also makes it illegal to engage in “disorderly behavior” at a special event of “national significance” or in the proximity of a “restricted building or grounds.” Anyone who violates a provision of the proposed statute is subject to fine, imprisonment of up to 10 years, or both.
In short, Congress figures it would be a good idea to keep tight rein on anyone who demonstrates a bit too energetically about the decisions coming out of Washington DC or the people who make them.
But more interesting than the content of the new bill is the fact that the “Restricted Buildings and Grounds Act” already exists as federal law. It is legislation which has been around since the late 60’s, making the same threats against protesters and imposing the same penalties. So the obvious question is: what prompted Congress to unearth and amend this decades-old measure?
A careful reading of the amended Act makes the intentions of DC politicians very clear. Without going into the legalese involved, with the clever deletion of just one word from the 1960’s Act, Congress has made it MUCH easier to convict anyone who federal prosecutors believe to have violated its terms.
Prior to the new language, prosecutors were generally required to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that a protester standing in the wrong place or saying unpopular things KNEW that his activities were against the law–knew that he had “violated a known legal duty.” Not the easiest burden of proof for the state.
But under the terms of the revised Act, federal prosecutors will only have to prove that the offender intended the result of his actions and knew that the particular result was likely to occur. In other words, it will only be necessary to show that a protester shouting into a megaphone both knew his conduct would be “disruptive” and intended it to be just that. Clearing the streets of those who don’t appreciate ‘The One’ will be a snap.
And, in the new Act, it seems all of those prosecutors will work for the Department of Justice. Under the old legislation, state law and jurisdiction took precedence. But now, all violations of the Act will be prosecuted in federal court, according to federal law. Maybe Congress doesn’t trust the states to enforce the law in quite the right way, at the right time, or against the right people!
So given that the new Act features broad descriptions of illegal behavior and a reduced burden of proof for federal prosecutors, it seems clear that DC politicians are doing everything in their power to legislate a pleasant, non-confrontational campaign season for themselves! Especially, perhaps, at the White House level.
It will be interesting to see if the revised statute will be used to combat the well-known lunacy of professional protesters expected to overrun Chicago this summer during the G8 summit. Then again, the threat of prison might be reserved for the protection of the Democrat president from those dangerous, middle aged Tea Partiers!
Time will tell.
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All decenting voices must be silenced for them to continue the destruction of our Constitution, Rights and Liberty. And when the groups stand in unison, will they be merely gunned down?
OK, so if a million people are protesting in these areas, can they possibly arrest and jail all one million people at the same time, or will they take names, and be assured that all million people will show up for their jail time? Seems to me that if a million people protest all at the same time, this would put a kink in their plans to stop this protest. I mean, there can’t be jails enough to actually hold that many Patriotic Americans! Can there? What would they do? Gun them all down in the streets? That would cause a dreadful uproar and major protest from “sea to shining sea” by even millions more Patriots! The Second American Revolution would definately start then! Maybe it already has, and hasn’t gotten to the proportions of millions just yet, but I’d have to bet that there are close to that already. I certianly hope so, for we are at “war” already, against an “administration” hellbent on destroying us and our country, along with every freedom and right that we have had since our beginning.
The tyrant has taken away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our Governance!
The tyrant has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns and destroyed the lives of our people.
The tyrant has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of international frontiers the merciless Muslime, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages sexes and conditions.
The tryant has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
The tyrant has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained, and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them..
The tryant has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices and the amount and payment of their salaries.
The tyrant has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of preteneded Legislation:
The tyrant has quartered large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them by a mock Trial, from Punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free system of English Laws in a neighbouring Provinces, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absoulute rule into these Colonies:
In every stage of these Oppressions we have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeatred Petitions have been answered ONLY BY REPEATED INJURY. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is UNFIT to be the ruler of a FREE PEOPLE.